My home is bugged!

[Nuzzolese]

I keep seeing these tiny brown bugs in my apartment and I don't know what they are, what they eat, if they bite, where they could be coming from. I have seen them before, in another place I lived, but that was in another state. They seem harmless but I'm just curious about them. I don't see them everywhere, just here and there... and mostly around the windows...but I've seen them far from the windows as well - but never in the kitchen or bathroom. Iunno. :confused:

Basically I'm asking, does anyone know a good website that identifies bugs by pictures?

I had silverfish in the last place I lived and found a good website that identified bugs by pictures and a little info about where they can be found and how much harm they can cause.

[burbboi]

They're bedbugs. They take chunks out of you while you sleep and come out when it's dark :D

Silverfish and earwigs freak the shit out of me. I would have gone bananas.

[Nuzzolese]

Ahhh!! No, I was worried that they were bedbugs but they don't look like the picture of the bedbug that I saw. And I've seen them on the curtains in the daylight. I read that bedbugs hide from the light. I think they're some kind of beetle, maybe one that eats wood or fabric, but I can't find a picture that matches them. They're very tiny.

Silverfish aren't so bad. They're yucky and quick though, they eat paper.

One place I lived in was a basement apartment and it had centipedes. ugh, I hated those things, looked like long grey/brown feathery things. Nasty.

[Nuzzolese]

I'm going to do a thorough Spring cleaning soon and hopefully they'll go away. I didn't have them last summer.

[mickill]

Maybe they're tarantulas.

[Bob]

do any of these pages help?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=insect+identification&btnG=Google+Search

i tried looking at a few of them in more detail to see if any one is particularly helpful, but some of them require you to look at detailed pictures of bugs and i'm just very squeamish about that kind of thing, so i stopped.

[enree erzweglle]

Usually those sites ask a bunch of detailed questions about the thorax and the mandibular area and whether it's segmented or if it looks like it sucks or bites when actually I was just thinking that it's a bug and it's in my house.

I'm squeamish about that stuff too. :o

[cookiepuss]

Paul jones seems to be having the same problem with creepy crawlies over at his place. perhaps you guys should chat. :)

[DapperDiverge]

it sounds like your talking about pill bugs or sow bugs... maybe this could help... i had the same problem in my old apartment...i think they're cute:rolleyes: :D

http://whatsthatbug.com/Pill.html

[Freebasser]

I had larder beetles/similar a year ago. *shudder* :(

[Bob]

Usually those sites ask a bunch of detailed questions about the thorax and the mandibular area and whether it's segmented or if it looks like it sucks or bites when actually I was just thinking that it's a bug and it's in my house.

I'm squeamish about that stuff too. :o

yeah, it's probably more for taxonomy purposes or something. that's the right word, right? you know, that sciency classification stuff. i remember doing that in high school. and sucking at it.

[enree erzweglle]

yeah, it's probably more for taxonomy purposes or something. that's the right word, right? you know, that sciency classification stuff. i remember doing that in high school. and sucking at it.I was thinking that those sites are usually really helpful & thorough but they make my back tingle. :o

I was able to use a site like ^^^ to identify some tiny little brown beetley bug that I had in my place last year but I forget now what they're called. I had maybe 6 or 8 of them total, but I was curious. They were iddy biddy--like fleas (real pet-related fleas not flying fleas) except they weren't fleas. They were some other reddish-brown nearly microscopic prehistoric-looking thing--like tiny armadillos--that crawled very slowly. They did not fly and I'd find them on the carpet. Once I identified them and learned that they were harmless, I started to think that they were kind of cute providing that they stayed small in numbers.

I am waiting for the carpenter ants to come out--they do nearly every year in the spring. They're crunchy and big and I hate that they've been eating the woodwork all winter.

[Bob]

blech, i hate bugs. when i go out to live on my own, that's what's going to be the biggest deciding factor for me, i think. i can deal with it being too hot or too cold, i can deal with odd smells, i can deal with noisy neighbors, but bugs, blaaaahhhh i don't want bugs. especially roaches. graaahhhh

i don't know why they bother me so much, but they definitely do, more than anything. i'd rather live in a tiny one room apartment with no bugs than a big house with a centipede problem.

[cosmo105]

my dad always called pillbugs (which we all called rollie pollies) "baby armadillos." i still chuckle about that when i see them. and when i see them rolled onto their backs waving their pathetic little legs in the air, i turn them back on their tummies.

Nuzz has flying vag rot mites.

[cosmo105]

there is some AWESOME bug porn on that site.

[enree erzweglle]

my dad always called pillbugs (which we all called rollie pollies) "baby armadillos." i still chuckle about that when i see them. and when i see them rolled onto their backs waving their pathetic little legs in the air, i turn them back on their tummies.

Nuzz has flying vag rot mites.Yeah, pill bugs are kind of cute. Some people call them potato/e :) bugs. I've never seen them in the house, though.

I have friends who lived in Queens and they had roaches despite keeping the place clean. I guess roaches aren't always associated with cleanliness. My friends would shake out their shoes before putting them on. :eek: See, to me, that would warrant a move, outside of the city if necessary.

[cosmo105]

potato bugs?! oh no man, potato bugs are evil, horrible disgusting vile little creatures. with their huge fat bodies and AGHH i'm getting chills. the worst was in water polo finding them rolling around listing in the waves at the bottom of the pool :(

they have little faces kind of. they look like fat little kids that have been rotting in the sun. my dad said that when he was a kid in mexico they called them "ninos del la tierra" - children of the earth. ewww :(

[enree erzweglle]

potato bugs?! oh no man, potato bugs are evil, horrible disgusting vile little creatures. with their huge fat bodies and AGHH i'm getting chills. the worst was in water polo finding them rolling around listing in the waves at the bottom of the pool :(

they have little faces kind of. they look like fat little kids that have been rotting in the sun. my dad said that when he was a kid in mexico they called them "ninos del la tierra" - children of the earth. ewww :(I know...I remember seeing a bit of one once in some rice that I bought :eek: and then researching it to find out what it was. GROSS. But still, I remember on a radio show a couple of years ago, a DJ asked people to call in and tell him the various names they had for rolly polly bugs and apparently, a bunch of people out here call them potato bugs. Potato bugs are chunky & yellow and black and they're awful looking with disproportionately big heads? Oooh, I have to leave this thread now.

[cosmo105]

HUAAGHGGGGHH (http://arnica.csustan.edu/photos/animals/Potato_bug_1.jpg) EEWWWWW (http://arnica.csustan.edu/photos/animals/Potato_bug_3.jpg) EVIL EVIL EVIL (http://www.dracoverdi.net/pictures/shinyPotatoBug.jpg) SOMEBODY SQUISH IT (http://taipan.nmsu.edu/people/richman/museum/Orthoptoroids/photos/photo6.jpg) :(:(:(

[beastieangel01]

we have an assload of daddy long legs in my new apartment. I don't mind them so much but when I see about 10 within 7 days I get a little upset.

[DandyFop]

Weird, the only potato bugs I've ever known of is these cute little guys. Awwww (http://www.nmnh.si.edu/iz/isopod/photogallery/A_vulgare.jpg) I totally used to pick them up all the time.

I've got to do a ton of spring cleaning myself, Nuzz. I'm the most disgusting person ever, honestly. If you guys had any idea, most of you probably wouldn't even want to talk to me anymore knowing that I'm living like this.

The other day I was in the shower and I got up to look on the ledge thing were I keep stuff and there was a HUGE spider web and all these dead bugs. EW EW EW

[ampm]

First, count the legs and body segments. If it has 2 antennae, 6 legs and 3 body segments (head, thorax & abdomen) then it's an insect. If it has 8 legs, no antennae and 2 body segments (head & abdomen) it's an arachnid.
If the head and thorax are fused together with 4 antennae it could be a crustacean. You'd obviously know the latter due to the claws and mandibles. Yet the common pillbug doesn't have claws, so this could be confusing to the untrained eye.
In the event the 'bugs' have many legs then we could be talking about an organism from either the Chilopoda or Diplopoda Class of the Arthropoda Phylum. Centipedes have 2 legs per body segment, with no antennae, but poisonous claws. Silverfish also commonly known as 'house centipedes' are also familar domestic dwellers. However, millipedes have 4 legs per segment, 2 antennae and are not poisonous. Contrary to popular belief centipedes do not have 100 legs, nor do millipedes have 1000 legs.
Once you have identified the phyla (insecta, arachnida, crustacea, chilopoda, diplopoda) you can use many hard copies or online websites to correctly classify the 'bug.' I recommend the Peterson field guides. They are superb tools in organism classification.
I hope this information helps you with your query.

[Nuzzolese]

it sounds like your talking about pill bugs or sow bugs... maybe this could help... i had the same problem in my old apartment...i think they're cute:rolleyes: :D

http://whatsthatbug.com/Pill.html

My bugs don't roll into balls, and they are more round than oval shaped, but they do seem to maybe be related to that kind of bug. Enree's little "armadillo" slow crawling type sound sort of like mine.

The fact that I've seen them in the sunlight is strange. They were on the curtains when the door was open, screen door closed. That's where I've seen about three of them. I've seen them on the wall too. I've seen about 8 in all, over the last month or two, maybe 10.

Thanks for the links! I'm not too squeemish about pictures of bugs - unless it's of a thousand baby spiders crawling all over their mom's back - it's usually the actual ones crawling around that bother me, and fast ones, especially ones that fly. I can't see where they're going, it makes me nervous. I can kill spiders, no problem.

[Nuzzolese]

First, count the legs and body segments. If it has 2 antennae, 6 legs and 3 body segments (head, thorax & abdomen) then it's an insect. If it has 8 legs, no antennae and 2 body segments (head & abdomen) it's an arachnid.
If the head and thorax are fused together with 4 antennae it could be a crustacean. You'd obviously know the latter due to the claws and mandibles. Yet the common pillbug doesn't have claws, so this could be confusing to the untrained eye.
In the event the 'bugs' have many legs then we could be talking about an organism from either the Chilopoda or Diplopoda Class of the Arthropoda Phylum. Centipedes have 2 legs per body segment, with no antennae, but poisonous claws. Silverfish also commonly known as 'house centipedes' are also familar domestic dwellers. However, millipedes have 4 legs per segment, 2 antennae and are not poisonous. Contrary to popular belief centipedes do not have 100 legs, nor do millipedes have 1000 legs.
Once you have identified the phyla (insecta, arachnida, crustacea, chilopoda, diplopoda) you can use many hard copies or online websites to correctly classify the 'bug.' I recommend the Peterson field guides. They are superb tools in organism classification.
I hope this information helps you with your query.

Thank you! That's incredibly helpful! I think these are crustaceans then, but I'd have to see one again to be sure.

[Nuzzolese]

I think it's some kind of "carpet beetle" which sounds right although the pictures don't match exactly, I read that they can vary slightly in appearance.

[Nuzzolese]

I don't know about you guys, but I keep feeling itches and tickles all over me now, just thinking about this.

[ampm]

Beetles are the most common insect. Insects are the largest group of organisms in the world. By 'large' I mean in number, not in size. Hence, making the Arthropoda Phylum the largest of the nine animal phyla. There are over 1 million different species of insects in the world. In total, there are billions of insects in the world. However, scientists believe that 90% of the insects (in the world) have yet to be discovered.

[voltanapricot]

Yeah, pill bugs are kind of cute. Some people call them potato/e :) bugs. I've never seen them in the house, though.
Ew, we call them woodlice here. They're vile!

Yesterday I went to pick up what I thought was a broken clip from a lid of a glitter pen, but it was really a bug with a nasty shiny casing. So I was holding it. In between my clean fingers. Nooooo! Boil some water! Yeeeeeuch.

[voltanapricot]

I don't get how some people love holding insects.

[Ace42X]

Any chance of a picture on sureshots for us budding amateur entomologists?

[Echewta]

carpet beetles!

[marsdaddy]

I worked at a food store that sold organic bread mix. Occassionally, the packages would crawl with larvae. We were told by the manufacturer that the larvae would die and would disintegrate in the cooking process. Turns out someone took home a bag, left it in the cabinet for over a year, and the larvae hatched to a moth infestation, which ruined their house. My store, along with the manufacturer, had to pay to have the place fumigated -- ironically, non-organic -- and replace all their clothes and furniture.

Then there was the time an inch worm was crawling across my organic salad.

Did you buy anything organic lately?

[fucktopgirl]

One place I lived in was a basement apartment and it had centipedes. ugh, I hated those things, looked like long grey/brown feathery things. Nasty.

yea,,thoses one make me jump and i would want to have one on me.The other day ,i did go get some wood planter from a friend and we did take the old dirt that was in it.there was like 5 centipede.haaaaaaaaaa!

ANyway now we got a carpenter ants invasion,because of the spring and the first big heat came.We did put stuff to kill them a bit .Man,i was sitting on my couch and one crawl on my arm,,,

as faR as for your buggs nuzzo,i dont know!do you live in the country or in the city?I know we have to some stink buggs here,they can fly and if you destroy them,they smell like fresh cutting grass!

[ampm]

All food should be cooked and cleaned thoroughly due to insect and parasitic worm infestation, and of course bacteria. However, a bowl of insects is more healthy then any bowl of high quality cereal. Moreover, the FDA allows a certain amount of 'bugs' to make it into all of our foods. Lipsticks contain cochineal extract which is derived from the cochineal insect. It's true.

[Nuzzolese]

I think I've found it.
http://jackspestcontrol.hypermart.net/carpet_beetles.htm

http://jackspestcontrol.hypermart.net/images/furniture_carpet_beetle.gif
All three carpet beetle species have a similar life history. Adults lay eggs on the larval food source, such as fabric, furs, or carpets. Eggs hatch in about 2 weeks and larvae feed for varying periods, depending upon species and environmental conditions. They prefer dark, secluded places. When ready to pupate, the larvae may burrow further into the food or wander and burrow elsewhere. They may also pupate within the last larval skin if no other shelter is available. The larvae do not make webs like clothes moths, but their shed skins and fecal pellets, which are about the size of a grain of salt, make it obvious where they have been feeding.

Some carpet beetle adults do not feed on fabrics but seek out pollen and nectar. They are attracted to sunlight and are commonly found feeding on the flowers of crape myrtle, spiraea, buckwheat, and other flowers that produce abundant pollen. Be careful not to bring these pests into the home on cut flowers -- with their rounded bodies and short antennae, carpet beetles somewhat resemble lady beetles in shape.


Except that mine are dark brown with black blotches. But I've read that they can vary in color. They vary in size from teeny tiny, like the tip of a sharpened pencil, to about the size of the "zero" on a standard keyboard.

AND I FOUND THEM!!!


Last night I decided to do some vacuuming around - not the big spring cleaning, just the corners and closets. First closet I checked, there they were all partying it up on a "Swiffer" cloth that had been dropped. There were like 20 of them plus their shells! It was a nest I guess and it was coming from a little hand-held vacuum I hadn't used in probably a year. I threw it out and vacuumed up all over the area and the rest of the apartment. I still plan to go through again and get under/behind all the furniture and stuff, clean out the other closets and storage.

I read that they can survive on lint and fibers in a vacuum cleaner, so be sure to clean out your vacuum cleaner bags very well! I hadn't used this little hand-vac in a long time.